ASHLAND – Bridgette McIntyre's 18 points and Eliza DiGiulio's big fourth quarter helped the No. 15-ranked Southern Oregon women's basketball team grind out its first win of the season, 61-58 over The Master's (Calif.) in the Raider Classic on Thursday night at Lithia Motors Pavilion.
SOU (1-2 overall) led for the duration of the second half after ending the first with 10 unanswered points to take a 32-29 edge into the break. The Mustangs (1-1) gained possession trailing by three points with five seconds left after Chloe Auble's 3-pointer and a Raider turnover, but a traveling violation wiped out their chance to send the game to overtime.
McIntyre, a senior guard, put up her season-high point total by hitting 4-of-10 attempts from 3, and she added six rebounds, three assists and two steals to her line. DiGiulio, a senior forward, came alive with eight points in the fourth to keep the Raiders in front and finished 7-of-10 from the field with 15 in total.
SOU also got key contributions off the bench from freshmen Lydia Traore and Sage Winslow, both Crater High products. The former put up seven points and seven rebounds, and the latter scored all 14 of her points during the momentum-changing second quarter with three triples.
Junior point guard Keeley Wright was at the head of a defense that forced 19 turnovers, collecting four steals. SOU's pressure sustained the run into the third quarter, where the Mustangs coughed up nine of those turnovers.
Dating back to the 2023-24 season, the Raiders have won 28 consecutive home games. Only four visitors have reached the 60-point mark during the streak.
Thirty-six percent shooting kept The Master's from doing so. Alli VanKooten scored 15 and Izabella Forker had 11, but the rest of the Mustangs went 10-of-35 combined.
The Classic continues on Friday, as Oregon Tech faces TMU at 4:30 p.m. and the Raiders host Simpson (Calif.) at 6:30 p.m.